Drought is expanding in Maine and raising concerns about a second straight year of harm to agriculture, water supplies and increased wildfire risk.
Paul Styslinger, natural hazards planner at the Maine Emergency Management Agency, said dozens of people have reported dry wells as conditions get worse across the state.
“Just like last year, it is dry in Maine and it’s getting drier,” Styslinger said.
“After over the last three weeks, we’ve seen the U.S. Drought Monitor designate some parts of the state as being in severe drought; and we don’t expect this week’s rain to change that trend all that much, unfortunately,” Styslinger added, referencing downpours across Maine during the first week of September.
Parts of Maine have had at least 12 fewer inches of rain than normal over the past year. Nick Stasulis, a supervisory physical scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey and co-chair of the Maine Drought Task Force, said groundwater levels also are at far below normal levels.
A poor snowpack and lack of rain over the past year means groundwater didn’t recharge from last year’s drought, Stasulis said. Some wells in the Interstate 95 corridor between Augusta and Kittery are at record low levels.
“A handful of those wells in that area are the lowest that they’ve been, in that period of record — 30-40 years in those locations, and that says something,” Stasulis added.
Nearly the entire state of Maine is at least in abnormally dry conditions, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. More than 368,000 people are living in a pocket of severe drought spreading from Portland to Waldo and Hancock counties.
This story appears through a media partnership with Maine Public.